Smile

• Original Broadway Production (1986)
  New York, NY
• Regional Production (1989)
  Baltimore, MD
• Musicals Tonight! Concert (2013)
  New York, NY
• J2 Spotlight Production (2025)
  New York, NY

Click on the title for info on the song.

Original score

• Prologue
  • aka Typical High School Senior [no note]
• Orientation
• Postcard #1
• Disneyland
• Shine
• Postcard #2
• Nerves
• Young and American
  • aka Preliminary Night [no note]
• Until Tomorrow Night
• Postcard #3
• Dressing Room Scene
  • aka [Smile] Opening Act II [no note]
• Smile
• We Wish We Were You
• In Our Hands
• Pretty as a Picture

Added after Broadway closing

• Portrait #1
• Portrait #2
• Portrait #3
• Very Best Week of Your Lives, The
• Dear Mom #1
• Dear Mom #2
• Bob's Song
• Dear Mom #3
• There Goes the Girl

• Composer Demo [audio]

In Santa Rosa, California, the Young American Miss beauty pageant brings together a group of teenage contestants chasing dreams of glory. Amid the rehearsals, pageant coach Brenda DiCarlo Freelander struggles to maintain order while her husband Bob grows disillusioned with the spectacle. Contestants Robin Gibson, a shy newcomer, and Doria Hudson, her outspoken roommate, form a bond as they face rivalries, parental pressure, and the artificial sparkle of competition. Behind the smiles and sequins, the musical exposes the hopes, disappointments, and compromises of small-town America on parade.

The post-Broadway version had its West Coast premiere in San Francisco in 1988. A planned tour failed to materialize, however.